Turkish Americans Attend Ninth Annual Turkish-Canadian Youth Congress

The Turkish American delegation to the Turkish-Canadian Youth Congress in front of the Canadian Parliament building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) is pleased to announce that from February 10-12, 2017, a delegation of promising young Turkish Americans attended the Council of Turkish Canadian (CTC) 9th Annual Turkish-Canadian Youth Congress in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Six Turkish American college students and young professionals spent the weekend attending meetings with officials and experts, learning about the Canadian political system, and developing a network with their Canadian peers. They came away from the weekend inspired to further collaborate with the Turkish Canadian community, continue to engage in local, national, and international politics, and implement the lessons they learned as effective leaders in the Turkish American community. TCA sponsored the travel for three of the Turkish American participants and CTC sponsored the accommodation and conference participation of all six.

Participants attended meetings and briefings with leaders of the Turkish Canadian community, Canadian politicians in the Canadian House of Commons, prominent Ottoman History historians, and former Turkish officials. The Turkish Ambassador to Canada, H.E. Selcuk Unal, also addressed the group. In addition, they toured the Canadian Parliament and attended a reception to celebrate the opening of the Modern Turkish Studies (MTS) Center at Carleton University.

2017 Turkish-Canadian Youth Congress
Turkish American Participants -

MaryJane Dumankaya

MaryJane Dumankaya is a graduate of New York University, where she was a Presidential Honors Scholar and Thomas Sweeney Scholar. A native New Yorker, she studied abroad in London, participated in a scholars' symposium in Beijing, and engaged in multi-faith dialogue in Abu Dhabi. In pursuit of her honors degree in international relations, she completed a senior thesis on natural resource wealth and authoritarian regime survival. She has interned at the Permanent Mission of Turkey to the UN and as a TCA intern in the Office of Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY/8th). She currently works at the NYU Department of Politics and hopes to attend graduate school in the future.

Zelda Elcin

A graduate of the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Zelda is currently a second year associate at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York City. She was a recipient of the TCAdvance-Robert C. Byrd Memorial Scholarship for all three years of law school, and has been a fervent advocate for Turkish American issues. While in law school, she was President of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund and the President and Founder of the Muslim Law Student Association. Previously, she interned for Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Ismail Ercan

Ismail is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University. He is a Political Science and Music major, and is hoping to minor in Spanish. In addition to interning with the office of Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL/9th) this last summer as a TCA Washington Summer Intern, he previously interned at the Miami Herald where he worked as a community reporter. At Vanderbilt, he has written for the school newspapers, played violin for the Vanderbilt University Orchestra, played on the club tennis team, and hosted a weekly show on the campus radio station. He is planning to attend law school and is strongly considering a career in public policy or political journalism. In his free time he enjoys writing and performing violin duet pop covers in his group Four Strings Attached.

Alev Erhan

Alev is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying international relations, focusing on Turkey and the Middle East. As a TCA intern for the Washington DC based think tank Atlantic Council, she focused heavily on the conflict dynamics of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party and the Islamic State in Turkey. Having researched diaspora politics and refugee policy at Istanbul’s Bosporus University and International Crisis Group respectively, she hopes to complete a Master’s degree in forced migration studies before continuing to law school.

Efe Ozturkoglu

Efe is a freshman at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY, where he studies Software Engineering. As a military child, he lived in numerous places while growing up including Turkey, Mississippi, and Delaware. Throughout his high school education, he served as the president of his school’s chapter of the Technology Student Association and Vice President of the Honor Society chapter. In the future, he would like to start a software development firm or pursue a career as a programmer.

Elanur Ural

Elanur is a Junior at Michigan State University (MSU) studying International Relations and Gender Studies. She has served as Treasurer of MSU’s Women’s Council for three years, is active an active member of the Turkish American Cultural Association of Michigan (TACAM), and has organized many events at MSU to improve Turkish-American relations. Her work experience includes internships with Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Woodberry Wine Distributors & Kindred Vines Imports, the Michigan Wine Collaborative, and the Viticulture Enology Science and Technology Alliance (VESTA). Her favorite Turkish food is kadayıf, and her favorite American food is a warm salted chocolate chip cookie.